Current Social Science Research Report--Health #35, October 16, 2007.

CSSRR-Health is a weekly email report produced by the Data and Information Services Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. It seeks to help social science researchers keep up to date with the latest developments in the field. This report will contain selected listings of new: reports, articles, bibliographies, working papers, tables of contents, conferences, data, and websites. For more information, including an archive of back issues and subscription information see:

Institute for Research and Information in Health Economics Periodical: Health Economics Letter (Vol. 122, May 2007, .pdf format, 6p.). The topic of this issue is "Improving the geographical distribution of practitioners: the measures adopted in France," by Yann Bourgueil, Julien Mousquès, Anna Marek, and Ayden Tajahmadi.

Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health's Center for Communication Programs Compendium: Info for Health Pop. Reporter (Vol. 7, No. 39, Oct. 15, 2007). "The Johns Hopkins University Population Information Program delivers the reproductive health and family planning news you need. Each week our research staff prepares an electronic magazine loaded with links to key news stories, reports, and related developments around the globe."

University of Wisconsin Center for Demography and Ecology: "The Dimensionality and Measurement of Cognitive Functioning at Age 65 in the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study," by James A. Yonker, Robert M. Hauser, and Jeremy Freese (Working Paper No. 2007-06, October 2007, .pdf format, 30p.).

Abstract:

The 2003-05 telephone surveys of high school graduates in the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study administered six cognitive assessments: immediate and delayed word recall, digit ordering, a subset of the WAIS-R similarities test, and letter and category frequency. We have analyzed these data separately among male and female participants in the WLS. We find that a structural model with a single, second order factor for general cognitive functioning fits the data well. The first order factors are memory/attention (word recall and digit ordering), abstract reasoning (WAIS-R), and verbal (letter and category) fluency. In addition, the memory/attention factor loads much more heavily on the general cognition factor among men than among women. We recommend this model be used in other analyses of cognitive functioning in the WLS.

Health information systems depend on health facility surveys for data. International and program-based approaches using health facility data include the Service Provision Assessment (SPA), Macro International; the Facility Audit of Service Quality (FASQ), MEASURE Evaluation; the Service Availability Mapping (SAM) census, World Health Organization; and the Health Facility Censuses (HFC) with a focus on infrastructure, Japan International Cooperation Agency. Several rounds of data from these sources are available for selected countries. A key gap in facility-based information is that definitions of indicators and data elements differ from approach to approach. The recommended core indicators in this document were selected based on existing tools and data. The indicators assess health systems’ functionality rather than the health status of the targeted population.

This research explores social networks and their relationship to access to health care among adult Mexican-Americans. We use data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) linked to data from the 2000 U.S. Census and other data sources. We analyze multiple measures of access to health care. Measures of social networks are constructed at the ZCTA level and include percent of the population that is Hispanic, percent of the population that speaks Spanish, and percent of the population that is foreign-born and Spanish-speaking. Regressions are stratified by insurance status and social network measures are interacted with individual-level measures of acculturation. For insured Mexican-American immigrants, living in an area populated by relatively more Hispanics, more immigrants, or more Spanish-speakers increases access to care. The social network effects are generally stronger for more recent immigrants compared to those who are better established. We find no effects of these characteristics of the local population on access to care for U.S. born Mexican-Americans, suggesting that similarities in race and language may contribute more to the formation of social ties among individuals who are less acculturated to the U.S. Among the uninsured, we find evidence suggesting that social networks defined by ethnicity improve access to care among recent immigrants. A finding particular to the uninsured is the negative influence of percent of the population that is Hispanic and the percent that is Spanish-speaking on access to care among U.S. born Mexican-Americans. The results provide evidence that social networks play an important role in access to health care among Mexican-Americans. The results also suggest the need for further study using additional measures of social networks, analyzing other racial and ethnic groups, and exploring social networks defined by characteristics other than race, language and ethnicity.

Background: Family structure is known to influence children's behavioral, educational, and cognitive outcomes, and recent studies suggest that family structure affects children's access to health care as well. However, no study has addressed whether family structure is associated with the care children receive for particular conditions or with their physical health outcomes.

Objective: To assess the effects of family structure on the treatment and outcomes of children with asthma.

Methods: Our data sources were the 1996-2003 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) and the 2003 National Survey of Children's Health (NSCH). The study samples consisted of children 2-17 years of age with asthma who lived in single-mother or two-parent families. We assessed the effect of number of parents and number of other children in the household on office visits for asthma and use of asthma medications using negative binomial regression, and we assessed the effect of family structure on the severity of asthma symptoms using binary and ordinal logistic regression. Our regression models adjusted for sociodemographic characteristics, parental experience in child-rearing and in caring for an asthmatic child and, when appropriate, measures of children's health status.

Results: Asthmatic children in single-mother families had fewer office visits for asthma and filled fewer prescriptions for controller medications than children with two parents. In addition, children living in families with three or more other children had fewer office visits and filled fewer prescriptions for reliever and controller medications than children living with no other children. Children from single-mother families had more health difficulties from asthma than children with two parents, and children living with two or more other children were more likely to have an asthma attack in the past 12 months than children living with no other children.

Conclusions: For children with asthma, living with a single mother and the presence of additional children in the household are associated with less treatment for asthma and worse asthma outcomes.

Recently, Currie and Stabile (2006) made a significant contribution to our understanding of the influence of ADHD symptoms on a variety of school outcomes including participation in special education, grade repetition and test scores. Their contributions include using a broad sample of children and estimating sibling fixed effects models to control for unobserved family effects. In this paper we look at a sample of older children and confirm and extend many of the JCMS findings in terms of a broader set of measures of human capital and additional specifications.

Are individuals more likely to smoke when they are surrounded by smokers? In this paper, we examine the evidence for peer effects in smoking. We address the endogeneity of peers by looking at the impact of workplace smoking bans on spousal and peer group smoking. Using these bans as an instrument, we find that individuals whose spouses smoke are 40 percent more likely to smoke themselves. We also find evidence for the existence of a social multiplier in that the impact of smoking bans and individual income becomes stronger at higher levels of aggregation. This social multiplier could explain the large time series drop in smoking among some demographic groups.

Public Health Nursing (Vol. 24, No. 5, Sept./Oct. 2007). Note: Full electronic text of this journal is available in the EBSCO Host Academic Search Elite Database. Check your library for the availability of this database and this issue.

US National Institutes of Health: NIH Partners in Research Program (R03) (RFA-OD-07-001, Oct. 12, 2007, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, in conjunction with two other agencies). For more information see:

Ibis Reproductive Health: "Charlotte Ellertson Social Science Postdoctoral Fellowship in Abortion and Reproductive Health," deadline for applications is December 3, 2007. For information on how to apply, go to:

UK Data Archive (Essex University, Colchester, UK): The UK Data Archive has recently added the following datasets to its holdings. Note: There maybe charges or licensing requirements on holdings of the UK Data Archive. For more information see:

Kaiser Family Foundation: "Health08.org" (October 2007, HTML and .pdf format). "Voters have identified health care as the leading domestic issue for the government to address and for the presidential candidates to discuss in the 2008 campaign. In particular, voters would like to hear the candidates' positions on reducing the cost of health care and health insurance and expanding coverage to the 47 million uninsured Americans.

The presidential candidates vary greatly in the extent to which they have discussed health care issues to date. Some have issued detailed proposals or have indicated that proposals are forthcoming. Others have articulated positions on specific health care issues or critiqued the positions and plans of other candidates in response to questions but have not offered their own proposals.

This side-by-side comparison of the candidates’ positions on health care was prepared by the Kaiser Family Foundation with the assistance of Health Policy Alternatives, Inc. and is based on information appearing on the candidates’ websites as supplemented by information from candidate speeches, the campaign debates and news reports. The sources of information are identified for each candidate’s summary (with links to the Internet). The comparison highlights information on the candidates' positions related to access to health care coverage, cost containment, improving the quality of care and financing. Information will be updated regularly as the campaign unfolds."